Operation Optimization of Electricity-Heat-Gas-Hydrogen Coupled System Considering Whole Life Cycle Carbon Costs

Abstract With the increasing trend of global warming, governments have shown great concern for the management of carbon emissions within energy systems. In this paper, we investigate a methodology for optimizing the operation of a coupled electricity-heat-gas-hydrogen system that considers the whole life cycle carbon emission (LCCE) cost. Such coupled systems optimize the overall efficiency of energy use by synergizing different energy resources and provide an innovative solution to reduce carbon emissions and achieve environmental sustainability. However, given the variability of carbon emissions of multiple energy systems over their life cycles, it is a major challenge to attain the dual objectives of reducing carbon emissions while enhancing economic advantages during system operation. To this end, this paper proposes an optimization model for the operation of a coupled electric heat, gas, and hydrogen system considering the LCCE cost, which can effectively track the LCCE of each device in the system and quantitatively analyze the carbon emission cost. The results show that by optimizing the full life cycle carbon cost, it is possible to significantly reduce the carbon emission and enhance the operational efficacy of the system while meeting the energy demand. This study provides new ideas for the optimized operation of the energy system, which is an important reference value for future multi-energy synergistic planning.